Until it's Gone
by The Pyroman
Summary: Sakura found a way to go back, back to a time when there were twelve fresh Genin that all got far in the Chunin Exams, and back to a time where the one she loves is still alive. With her knowledge of the future, Sakura will go to great lengths to make sure that the love of her life survives all of the challenges pushed his way. NaruSaku M for future content.
1. Going back

"**Do you understand the terms that come with this?" **A booming demonic voice spoke up, breaking the silence that had come over the raining plains. The being that it came from was none other than the magnificent Kyuubi no Yoko, who had recently been enjoying his world outside of his container. He loved being able to breathe the fresh air of the world again, and look at something wasn't a dingy sewer. It's several tails swung around slowly as it sat on the grass, looking down at a young woman who had managed to find him. The great beast's eyes looking down at the human who had come to his attention, surprised that not only the fact that she had found him, but also her reason for doing so. He had to admit that her reasoning was good, but needed more of a reason to go back. He already knew that she wanted to go back and change events for the betterment of everyone, but he also knew that there was more to it than the rosette was telling him.

The woman before him looked up at the most powerful of the Bijū, no fear in her eyes, or hesitation as she spoke. She didn't fear the beast in the slightest, knowing secrets that it would hate to have gotten out. If worse came to worse, then she would use those as a bargaining chip to get what she wanted. The rosette knew that the Kyuubi wouldn't be happy in the least if people knew the truth about it, especially the secret involving its favorite form above being a giant fox. With a mental smirk, she pictured laughed at the Kyuubi when hearing about the form.

"Yes. I understand." She told the beast, looking it right in the eyes as she spoke calmly and seriously. She wanted for things to be different than they were now. Not only for the sake of all of the Elemental Nations, but as well as the one that she had truly lost. She had not told it that part, though, and simply explained to the beast that she wanted for things to be different. She knew, however, that the Bijū understood what she truly wanted.

It was almost a year since it had all happened, all of the jinchūriki being killed and their Bijū being freed, as well as the sudden disappearance of the criminal group Akatsuki. Nobody knew where they went or what happened to them, but some suspected that it was taken out from the inside, and their leaders, as well as Madara, were killed. Nobody wanted to question it though, as it was a new time of peace that they hadn't had in quite some time. No everyone was happy about it, though, as many of their close ones were killed during the extraction of the Bijū. Although only nine were killed, everyone was affected by their deaths, and hardly anything was the same any more. Although each of the hidden villages were affected, none of them had it as bad as _Konohagakure_.

With a vile and gut wrenching smile, the giant fox lowered its head to the young woman and looked at her, silently hoping that her endeavors would pay off for her and everyone else. He knew the true reason behind her wanting to go, and as much as he loathed admitting it, he wanted the brat back as well. **"Very well..." **The beast spoke, its smile only widening as its tails began to flare up and whip around violently. **"As I said before, you will maintain your memories of everything up to today, meaning you will have the knowledge of all of your jutsus and techniques. However…" **It paused again, slowing for the information he had just given her to sink into her mind. She was a smart and brilliant woman, so she would have easily guess what it was about to say next. **"Since you are going back, especially to an age where your body it weak and fragile compared to its state now. You will probably not be able to perform any of those techniques until you rebuild your body. Being bluntly honest, you were terrible back then." **The rosette simply nodded with a calm face as she looked at the demon fox. She hated looking back and seeing how weak she was compared to everyone else, and even her best friend was ahead of her despite both being two of the worst when it came to their class. She knew that she had to work hard, but it would all be worth it to be with the one she wanted.

She had made a mistake, and by the time that she had realized it, it was much too late to do anything. He was gone from her life, and she now knew how badly she needed for him to be there and brighten up every day just by simply existing. His bright, kind, and fox-like smile, his sun kissed blond hair, and everything else about him. Thinking back to their younger days as Genin, the woman smiled softly, forgetting that she was in the presence of the lord of the Bijū.

"**Sakura. You're thinking about him, aren't you…?" **He didn't even need to say his name, as Sakura nodded and began to tear up, now remembering all the things that she had done to him when he was only trying to be nice. Shaking her head, the Jonin woman looked at the Kyuubi and sighed. She didn't have to say anything to him, as he already knew what she really wanted out of all of this. In a seemingly endless moment of silence in the rain, the two of them looked at each other, not moving a muscle with the exception of the beast's freely moving tails. She could hardly feel the rain hitting her skin as she stood there, as only one thing filled her thoughts at the time.

"Thank you, Kurama." Sakura spoke softly as she looked at the beast, seeing its eyes widen for a short moment before returning to normal. Only a very few amount of people knew the Kyuubi's true name, and Sakura had done much more than needed to earn that right to know it. The Kyuubi nodded its head and looked at the girl, it's tails swinging more viciously than moment before.

"**One of two things will happen, Sakura.. If you do change things, you will either change this world, and I will notice the effects as soon as they happen, or you will create another timeline completely. Either way, you will have what you want." **Sakura nodded once more as she looked at the tailed beast, understanding what might happen when she changed the outcome of some events. She hoped that Kurama would be able to see the changes for he-himself, but she couldn't be sure. Even if that wouldn't happen, the demon fox was still allowing for her to travel back to make things better. **"One last thing…"** Kurama spoke, its tails becoming more and more violent as the seconds passed. **"No matter what I might threaten to do, tell him everything that he should know about me. Even…" **

With a small smile, Sakura nodded to Kurama, knowing exactly what the demon was talking about. She was unsure how a twelve year old would react to something like the 'true form' of Kurama, the great and magnificent Kyuubi no Yoko. "I'll be sure to tell him as much as I can, but without giving away too much. It might be difficult, though… he wasn't nearly as calm understanding as he is when he comes back with Jiraiya-Sama."

She sighed once more as she remembered the death of Jiraiya, how the great Sannin was brought to death. Shaking away the thought, she looked around the area, as if trying to find someone that wasn't actually there. Looking back at Kurama, she gave a silent nod to the demon fox, which only smirked back and sat there calmly as it gathered its own special brand of Chakra. If anyone were anywhere nearby, they would definitely be able to feel the devastating power that could only belong to one being. Before Sakura could say anything else to Kurama…

There was black.

* * *

"Sak…Ura…Saku…Sakura…!" The dulled and distant voice slowly cleared up as Sakura woke up. She had an impossibly large headache that didn't seem to be going anywhere, and as much as she wanted to stay in her bed until it went away, but the voice that had been calling to her continued yelling out her name, hoping for the young woman to get up. "In a minute, mom.." She answered lazily, staring at the ceiling for a moment before widening her eyes and looking around to see her old room. _"Mom?!"_ She mentally yelled at herself as she looked around the room, finding that the room was colored with a light pink, with white and even a few greens to break up the coloring. _"This is my old room..! Kurama, you did it!" _She cheered, causing for her to squeal out loud, much to her mother's amusement.

The older Haruno was standing on the other side of her daughter's door, waiting for her to get up so that she could go and meet with her team. Although she didn't fully approve of having Uzumaki Naruto on her daughter's team, she was more than happy to hear that Sakura was on a team with the last Uchiha, the self proclaimed best and most powerful clan of _Konohagakure_. She was sure that the Uchiha would be able to keep the Uzumaki out of trouble, but she couldn't say the same for her own daughter. In all honesty, Mebuki Haruno didn't like having her daughter obsess over the Uchiha. She knew that he was important, as well as powerful, but it didn't allow for her daughter to joining the ninja ranks just to be with him. She actually hoped that a mission or two out in the world would tell her daughter that she would either have to apply herself fully to being a ninja, or leave the ranks and become a civilian like her parents. She wouldn't admit it to the public, but her daughter was on an outstanding team, with the last Uchiha, and the _Demon Prankster of Konoha_. The reasons for not saying it in the public were because she actually respected what they boy could do. He could paint the entire Hokage monument in a day and not be captured, what was even more was that he didn't use a Genjutsu at all to cover it up while he was painting. Even more than that, he could evade the Jonin and ANBU of _Konoha_ for days while wearing the blindingly orange jumpsuit of his. It took a lot of skill to pull off those pranks, and while most said that they were just stupid pranks, other saw that he had potential to be a devastating ninja.

Jumping out of her bed, Sakura could already feel that her body was nothing like it should be. Even with having all of the chakra control in the world, she was nothing without decent reserves. Since she was from two civilians, neither of their family trees having many ninja, she had small chakra reserves, and needed to build them up as quickly as possible without going through chakra exhaustion too many times. Getting to her feet, the young Haruno walked over to her closet and pulled out her standard attire, a red dress with black shorts and her Headband going across the top of her head. It felt so odd to be wearing this outfit again, but she knew that she would get over it eventually because without Kurama to help her, she was stuck in her old body.

Walking out of her room, Sakura encountered her mother, who both shared their green eyes. Mebuki was different, however, as she had dark blond hair, and a darker shade of green in her eyes. Mebuki smiled sweetly at her daughter, who returned the smile back to her with equal kindness. It was so nice to see her mother happy and calm, rather than seeing her stressed out from the war and constantly worrying about her daughter. Sakura hoped that a time like that wouldn't come again. "Hello Sakura-chan." Her mother said to her following her through the hallway and to the living room of their house. "Are you ready to do that test with your team today? From what you told me yesterday, you aren't supposed to eat breakfast this morning, but I ask that you do..." Sakura remembered this moment exactly and saw it playing out through her mind.

"_Are you ready to do that test with your team today? From what you told me yesterday, you aren't supposed to eat breakfast this morning, but I ask that you do..." Mebuki told her daughter, knowing that she had been skipping meals to stay skinny for Sasuke. Shaking her head, Sakura looked at her mother with a slight frown. "But mom! Kakashi-sensei said that we shouldn't eat! Also, I need to watch my weight for Sasuke-kun. I don't want to eat too much and make him think that I'm fat!" Continuing the conversation in her mind, Sakura only got more worked up and stormed out of her house, thinking that her mother was crazy for suggesting that she eat food, even when she was told not to, as well as trying to become impossibly skinny for someone who wouldn't even show emotion if his comrades died on a mission. It turned out that even that little bit of information by their sensei was a test, as a ninja should always eat when he can, as they will always need that extra energy, or something like that, as she remembered._

With a small nod and smile, Sakura looked at her mom and walked to the kitchen, sitting down at the table that they had set up. She wasn't in any rush, as she knew that her Sensei was going to be hours late, so taking her time wasn't going to be a problem at all. With her mother preparing food, Sakura began to think about if the others would eat or not, even if Kakashi told them not to. Sasuke would probably say something like _"An elite Uchiha like me doesn't need food. It would only make things worse for you if I did eat, so you should consider yourself lucky." _She knew that Sasuke would say something like that, as he always had and always will think that he was better than everyone just because of his name and his eyes. Without those two things, he was nothing, and only a man expecting for people to bow down to him when they obviously wouldn't. Moving her thoughts to her other teammate, she imagined what he would say. _"Man… I should have eaten this morning… Stupid Kakashi-sensei telling us not to eat breakfast, I'm gonna go see if Sakura-chan has anything I can bite down on.. I don't think that the teme will let me even look at whatever food he has…" _Knowing Naruto as well as she did, she knew that he wouldn't have eaten breakfast this morning, because Kakashi had told them the day before that they would most likely vomit whatever they had that morning. Looking over at her mother, Sakura gave her a nervous look before speaking up to the older Haruno. "Mom?" She asked her, causing Mebuki to look over to her daughter. "Do you think that you could make some extra food? I'm not sure if….Sasuke-kun, will be eating this morning, so I thought that I could bring some to him at the training field.." With a small nod, Mebuki smiled at her daughter and silently wondered when Sakura had ever placed doubt on the Uchiha. She was glad that her daughter would be eating normally this morning, and hoped that she would take her new duties seriously now that she was considered an adult of the village. Little did she know, Sakura was much more of an adult than everyone realized.

* * *

**Well everyone! I hope that I can get this story moving, as I have a lot of ideas for it, as well as many ways from derailing it from the original series so make it different so that it's not just a repeat of the story with Sakura now having feelings for Naruto. Hopefully I can get another chapter out soon.**

**Until then folks!**


	2. Want some breakfast?

It didn't take very long for Mebuki to finish up cooking breakfast, even though she had to make extra due to Sakura's request. She had believed that Sakura was going to eat the other portion of food once she left the house, so that Mebuki wouldn't be able to see her eating so much, but was proven wrong when Sakura ate at her own pace and claimed that she was too full to eat any more. The older Haruno nodded in acceptance, understanding that with what little portions Sakura usually ate, this was a lot for the girl.

On the contrary, Sakura wanted to eat both portions of the meal. She knew that by eating more, she would have more energy, and when exercising, any weight that she might possibly gain from eating would be turned into muscle. She had to save the rest for Naruto, though, as she knew for sure that he wasn't going to be eating this morning, or lunch if things happened in the exact same fashion that they did before.

_Naruto would charge in head first, fail miserably, and have the _Sennen Goroshi_ Placed upon him in humorous fashion. While she and Sasuke would be hiding and watching, Naruto would unleash a barrage of _Kage Bushin_ on Kakashi, who would replace himself with one of them to have the clones fight only themselves without knowing that Kakashi was elsewhere. After dispelling the clones, Naruto would find a bell on the ground near a tree and fall for the trap that Kakashi had set up for him. During this time, when Sasuke believed that Kakashi was distracted by the blond, he would launch multiple shuriken and kunai their sensei. Kakshi would use the _Kawarimi _Technique to replace himself with a log. While this was happening, Sakura would decide to wander off, and Kakashi would find her. Using a genjutsu on her to make her believe that Sasuke was dying, she would pass out from the shock. In the time that they had to complete the test, none of them would manage to get a bell, but Kakashi would allow them to try again later, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to eat while Naruto was tied to one of the three posts due to the fact that he attempted to rush at the food and eat it by himself. In the end, though, they would all pass and move along to other things._

Even without her built up reserves, and lack of muscle memory with this different body, Sakura planned on changing things this time, not wanting for Naruto to starve like he did. She would also make sure on getting the bells quickly and effectively with her team, now knowing what techniques Kakashi might pull on them. She couldn't change things too much, as people would begin to question why she knew what was going to happen and when, as well as the fact that they might drift off from her own timeline, starting something completely different with an act that would seem to do nothing. She had to be careful of what she did, as everything could change with a seemingly harmless act. It would be difficult to conceal her knowledge of the future, but she would have to do everything in her power to make it seem like she was still the Sakura that everyone else knew.

Finishing up the last scraps of her meal, Sakura smiled at her mother who was currently sitting across from her on the dining room table It seemed that she was eating as well, but had just begun to eat by the looks of how much was still on her plate. Mebuki looked up from her plate and to her daughter as she noticed her glances, happy to see that she didn't seem to be on a diet at the time. Mebuki hated those diets that many of the girls seemed to be going on because of Sasuke, and although she did feel bad for what the Uchiha had to go through, she wasn't wrapped around his finger like some others were, like many were on the civilian council. Sakura stood up from her spot at the table and took the small box that had the other portion of food inside of it. It was about as large as her own portion, and she willed herself not to rush out of the house and eat it. Mebuki smiled at her daughter and waved her goodbye as she saw that Sakura was walking over to the front door. Being a kunoichi herself, Mebuki knew how the world was, and hoped that her daughter finally understood that you needed everything that you had at your disposal to get through in life.

"Goodbye Sakura-chan!" Her mother called out to her as Sakura walked out the door, carrying the small box with her as she left. She bid her mother a quick farewell before closing the door behind her and leaving the Haruno household. Looking around, Sakura smiled as she took in the sights as if she hadn't been there in years. It was calm, peaceful, and was just about done rebuilding everything from when the Kyuubi attacked twelve years ago. There were no signs of war stress, only four faces carved into the Hokage Monument, and nine extra people still existed in the world.

* * *

Walking to the training ground, Sakura had some time to think about how she could make things better, and how they might change things in the future. She knew that it was possible that she could have already started changing things by agreeing to eat this morning, but it was just a simple meal to help her with the upcoming bell test. Something that simple couldn't have a large effect, could it? Shaking her thoughts away from breakfast, she began to think about her friends and how they changed over the years. The first one to come to mind was surprisingly Hinata, who had been set on Naruto since the day that she saw him. Sakura sighed softly as she frowned and looked at the ground." _I'm sorry that I have to kill your dreams this early on, Hinata, but I can't let your feelings grow for him anymore… You two grow up to be great friends later on, so hopefully that will stay the same..." _She thought to herself, remembering how she had even once thought about getting the Naruto and Hinata together before his death. After that, Sakura knew that she needed Naruto more than Hinata. Sure, she thought that it seemed a little selfish, but he couldn't help herself, and if everyone was still young, she still had a chance of keeping the Hyūga as a close friend to Naruto, but nothing more.

Stopping her thoughts abruptly, Sakura reached the bridge that led to training ground three and saw her two teammates. Sasuke was standing around and brooding as per the usual, and Naruto was doing something different, a usual for him. Currently, the blond was just simply pacing around the open field on the other side of the bridge. He wasn't training, or spouting out that he'll be Hokage someday, just… walking. She didn't remember him doing that originally, so maybe she was already starting to change things. Then again, Sakura did take some time to eat breakfast, which left Sasuke and Naruto along for about half an hour to do what they were doing now. Remembering the food, Sakura called out to her teammate. "N… Sasuke!" She called out, reminding herself that she hadn't even begun to treat Naruto fairly yet. She couldn't just simply change things like that. She needed to ease the change in, by starting being nice to Naruto early on, and become nicer and grow closer to her than before. Sasuke hardly moved at all, but Naruto looked over at Sakura and smiled his foxy smile when he saw her. She couldn't help but blush when she saw Naruto smiling at her, and quickly turned to Sasuke, holding out the box of food out shyly to him. She didn't want to give it to him, but she wanted to seem like she still adored him like before. "Um.. Sasuke-kun… would you li-"

"No." He said simply, not even bothering to look at Sakura. Although the appeared defeated on the outside, she was cheering on the inside that he didn't accept the food. That meal was for her Naruto-kun and nobody else. She didn't even bother to deny or hide it in her head. She knew that she loved Naruto, and wanted to be with him as much as possible. That was the whole reason that she came back to change the future, so that they could be together.

Noticing the look of defeat on her face, Naruto looked at the rosette curiously and walked over to her, taking in the box that she had in her hands. He wasn't sure what exactly was in it, but by the smell, he was sure that it was food. "Ne, Sakura-chan." Naruto spoke up, causing said girl to look over his way. She was trying hard to keep up her outward appearance, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep herself from letting go of the box and squeezing him to death in a bone crushing hug. "What's in the box?" He was curious to know, but judging by the smell, he already had a good idea of what was inside of it. Even if it wasn't Ramen, he was still getting hungry just by the smell, and mentally berated himself for not eating breakfast when he had the chance to. He could have simply gone home and eaten whatever he had, but he didn't know that Kakashi was going to be four hours late.

Opening the box, Sakura showed its contents to Naruto. The box contained a small portion of rice, a small section of a fish, an omelet, and soy beans. It was still warm, and now that Naruto had seen what was inside the box, he was hungrier than ever. His mouth was practically watering as he struggled to speak actual words to the love of his life. "Sakura-chan… If Sasuke isn't going to eat that, then can I?" He asked someone shyly as he took a step back, preparing himself for the possible beat down he might get for asking to take Sakura's food 'meant' for Sasuke. Standing there for a moment, giving off the appearance of heavy thinking, Sakura nodded at him with a small smile handed him the box. This had surprised Naruto greatly, but took the box and nodded thankfully as he dug into the meal, enjoying every bite as he had little to eat the night before, and nothing in the morning.

"Thanks Sakura-chan!" He said with a mouth filled with food. Sakura's smile grew as he nodded to him and watched him eat.

Seeing the act, Sasuke smirked and scoffed at the two. "Yeah, eat up Dobe. A dead-last like you could use all the energy you need. I don't need that food. I could beat a ninja like Kakashi without even trying." Little did he know, Sakura was mentally smirking and laughing at the so-called "Prodigy." _"You have no idea how wrong you are, Sasuke… Kakashi-sensei could take you down with only one-handed signs. He doesn't even need his Sharigan to match up to you."_ Nobody had heard her thoughts, and she was glad, since Sasuke would have done something stupid to show off his "power" and end up risking the lives of his teammates. She wouldn't be able to fight him like she was now, but with enough training; she could get up to his level.

Naruto glared at Sasuke when being called a Dobe, but said nothing since he was still eating the food. Neither he nor Sakura said anything in response to Sasuke, and Sakura even played it off as if she hadn't heard anything. Sakura simply stood there facing Naruto with a pleasant smile on her face, and when catching on to what she was doing, Naruto relaxed his facial muscles and continued to eat, acting as if the Uchiha wasn't even there at all. He wasn't sure why Sakura was being to different today, but he wasn't complaining in the least, as she hadn't hit him yet for doing something that he shouldn't have.

Obviously irate by the actions of his teammates, Sasuke grunted and turned back around, looking at the water under the bridge as he brooded. Sakura wondered why she had ever fallen for Sasuke, as he hardly ever changed his brooding ways, and was always thinking himself as a god compared to everyone around him just because of his name and eyes… that he didn't have yet. Sasuke didn't have his eyes until the mission to wave, but if she did something to maybe keep him from getting his prized eyes during that mission, the maybe he might be a little different. She surprised herself by already thinking of things that could change everyone for the better, as Sasuke might not be as stuck up as he was when he got his eyes, but then again, Orochimaru would offer him a way to unlock his eyes, and Sasuke would agree to whatever needed to be done. In the end, it would end with Orochimaru getting to Sasuke and giving him the curse seal. Maybe she couldn't simply change whatever she wanted, as things like that would happen no matter what.

From a nearby tree, a silver haired Jonin was watching the events unfold with his students. It was odd to see that Sakura was being friendlier with Naruto, and even more to see that she was ignoring Sasuke after he insulted Naruto. She certainly didn't seem like that the day before, and he wondered what the change was about. He would have to ask her some time, as it seemed that Naruto was too busy with stuffing his mouth full of food. He was also glad to hear that Sakura had decided to eat this morning, and to some extent, Naruto as well. Even if he didn't actually eat at his home, he was still eating and that was the important part. _"If Sasuke were to pull that stick out of his ass, then this would be a great team. Even though Sakura doesn't have that much when it comes to reserves, she has killed control, and could easily use that for medic purposes or genjutsu. Naruto, thanks to the Kyūbi, has a near infinite amount of Chakra, and can push out those _Kage Bushin _like nothing. If he wised up, he could become a real force. Personality aside, Sasuke is just as good as Naruto, with a large handful of clan techniques, and maybe even the _Sharingan _sometime in the 're all good, but none of them are without faults. I guess that's why I'm here!" _The Cyclops Ninja thought with one of his famous eye smiles. He truly did think that the team had potential, and with Sakura now treating Naruto a bit more fairly, they might actually get through the test. With a _Sushin_, Kakashi left the tree in a swirl of leaves.

Reappearing some distance from the bridge, Kakashi walked lazily to the training ground where his students were currently at. When he neared the trio, none of them seemed to have noticed him, as they didn't point him out to all of the others. In something unexpected, Naruto slowed down his eating quite a bit and continued to look at Sakura, but was actually trying to focus on Kakashi without actually looking at him. Once he believed that he could focus on his instructor well enough, Naruto threw one of the chopsticks like a Kunai, aimed for Kakashi's head. Catching the chopstick with it only being about an inch from his forehead protector, Kakashi looked at Naruto lazily, but was actually surprised by the sudden attack and she speed that it was thrown at.

"And what was that about?" Kakashi asked Naruto as he slowly moved the Chopstick away from his face. Setting the box of food down, Naruto looked at Kakashi and threw the other chopstick with seemingly more force and speed, but only going just as fast as the previous one. As he threw it, he yelled "YOU'RE LATE KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

Kakshi caught the other chopstick as well with his other hand, and was surprised to see that it just wasn't a lucky throw that happened to be fast and accurate, as the chopstick would have landed in the middle of the spiral of the _Konogakure_ symbol if it had actually made contact. With a slight shrug, Kakshi spoke to his team, noting that Sasuke didn't even bother to look away from the stream under him. "Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life." He spoke with his eye smile, forcing a grunt out of Naruto as he mumbled out "Liar…" out from under his breath.

Kakashi looked at the empty food box that was now on the ground. He then looked back up at Naruto and glanced at Sakura. From what he had seen from his spot on the tree, Sakura seemed to have eaten beforehand, and offered her food to Sasuke, who refused. When Naruto noticed the box, he asked Sakura if he could have it, and she allowed him to eat its contents after a moment of thinking. "So I see that you were eating just now…" Kakshi spoke in a low tone, as if he was going to punish Naruto for going against what he had said. Naruto flinched only slightly as he heard the low tone of his sensei. Under normal circumstances, Sakura would have flinched as well, but she knew what was going to happen, even if it didn't happen in her own time. When she lived through it the first time, Kakshi had told them that they should have eaten, even though he told them not to the day before. With a slow nod, Naruto silently answered Kakshi.

In a moment of silence that caused even Sasuke to look at his instructor and teammate, Kakashi stood there with a blank and unreadable expression. In a sudden act, he eye smiled at his student. "That's good to hear." He told the team, getting wide eyes from both Sasuke and Naruto. "You should have eaten this morning. When you're on the battle field, you'll need every ounce of energy you have. Food has energy, and by extension, you'll have more energy by eating food." He told them all, unknowingly proving Sakura right by telling them what she had told herself earlier. The way he was explaining it was as if they had never heard it before, and as if he were talking to children younger than them.

Nobody said anything for what seemed to be an eternity. From the look on Naruto's face, he was thinking heavily on this. There were a minuscule amount of times in his life where he had eaten something other than ramen, but those days were long gone, and now ramen broth was practically flowing through his veins. Even Teuchi and Ayame had told him that eating too much ramen wasn't the best thing for a ninja, and had actually recommended that he eat something more healthy every once and a while. He was their best customer, and they were telling him to eat something else. Now, that was saying something, since anybody else would have let their best customers continue eating their food for an eternity without saying anything. If he were to eat healthier, then maybe he would have more energy and even be stronger!

Both Sakura and Kakashi had caught onto the look of deep thought on Naruto's face, and looked over to Sasuke to see his reaction. Without much surprise, Sasuke appeared as if he didn't care, as he still believed strongly that he didn't need breakfast to pass whatever test Kakashi was going to throw at them.

Looking over his team, Kakshi eye smiled at all of them and took a step forward. "If nobody has anything else to say, then let's start the test!"

* * *

**Chapter two done and bigger than the previous one! I will be taking more time to make each chapter bigger and better polished, so expect a week or week-and-a-half before each chapter. Also, If anyone would like to beta this for me, please say so. I want to make this as good as I can for everyone.**

**On another note, I could have posted this yesterday or even the day before if I wasn't being lazy, but because of you guys and all the people that are reading it, I want to make it as good as I can. Within the next week or two, expect a bigger post that has the bell test and a little something extra.**

**Just so you all know, when Kurama appears in her true form, he isn't going to be like "I'm so sorry I caused you pain, Naruto." Nononononono.. "She'd going to be like "Oh you got tortured and beaten for your whole life? You're a jinchuriki, you're stronger than they are and just deal with it." I'm not saying she's going to be a complete ass, but she will be kind of mean in the beginning, and eventually get nicer along the way.**

**See you all next time!**


	3. The Test - Part One

"Now, the three of you will be trying to grab one of these two bells." Kakshi told them as he held two bells together in the same hand, jingling with every movement due to their attachment of the red threads. All three of the new Genin looked at the bells, and Naruto and Sasuke had the same thought. _"Why aren't there three bells?" _Sakura already knew the reason behind this, but pointed it out like she did originally. Physically pointing at the two bells, Sakura looked at her sensei curiously. "Um, Kakashi-sensei, why are there only two bells? There are three of us, so shouldn't there be three?" She asked him, trying to imitate herself to the best of her abilities while still being different. Kakshi eye-smiled at the rosette and put the bells on his Jonin vest, to signify being struck at the heart if the bells were taken from him. "That's a good question, Sakura. This test has a 66.6% chance of failing, and one of you _will _be sent back to the academy. You have until noon to get the bells from me, and you'd better come at me with the intent to kill." He told them all, getting nods of the head from all three of them. She knew better, though, and it either going to all of them or none of them passing the test. If things went well, they wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of failing. Sakura had everything planned out.

The Jonin looked at all three of his students, ready to see how good the Last Uchiha and the Kyūbi Jinchūriki were in terms of combat and tactics. He had read up on Naruto's file and didn't believe a word of it. There was no way that a person would be able to get scores as low as his, and the only possible explanation was sabotage on the Academy's part. He wanted to be able to see what Naruto was capable first hand, and he had no reason to treat him like the rest of the village did.

"And… GO!" Kakashi called out, prompting all three genin to disappear into the trees. Sasuke left by himself while Sakura dragged Naruto away from Kakashi before he could fail at trying to take him head on. Reaching the trees, Sakura let go of Naruto once he got his footing on a tree, looking at the rosette with slight aggravation. "What was that for Sakura-chan!?" He whispered as he looked at her, unsure why she pulled him away just as he was about the spring forward.

"Because you can't just jump at him and expect to win, you Baka!" Sakura said as she looked at Naruto calmly and did her best to resist the urge from giving him the largest kiss that she could muster. They were in a tree after all, so they probably wouldn't be seen if she did. She could hear Naruto audibly sigh as she watched Kakashi make his way to the center to the clearing, pulling out a small orange book once he fully stopped. A small smile could be seen on Sakura's face as she thought more about Kakashi, and how he never moved past his perverseness.

While she did have the knowledge to end the test right then and there, she couldn't do anything that would seem out of character for her at the time. As much as she loved Naruto, she could tell him the truth just yet. She needed to wait until he came back from his training trip in a few years. He would be able to understand her much better then compared to if she told him now. She was moved back to reality as she heard the voice of Naruto whispering to her. "Sorry, Sakura-chan."

Every time he said her name like that she just wanted to hug him tightly and never let go of him, but she knew better than to do that now. While her mind was flooded with thoughts of Naruto, Sakura thought up of multiple plans and scenarios of how to get the bells. They all involved Naruto in some way or another, mainly using his clones as cannon fodder while the real version of him, as well as Sakura, would work on getting to Kakashi. Another plan was to spoil the book for him and take the bells while he was in shock, and she very well could do that thanks of her knowledge of the books due to events in the future. She didn't like to admit it, but she was well versed when it came to the perverse book series, and that was only because she needed help for personal reasons involving a certain blue eyed blond.

Despite living with that old pervert for almost three years, Naruto hardly done anything to even be considered a perv, and any suggestive thing that he had done around her and their friends was only out of hormones. He was well controlled most of the time, but thanks to the demon inside of him, it was pretty hard to keep everything in check. Sometimes Kurama would unleash a flood of hormones around Naruto, or other times she would send dirty images through the boy's head. Although he didn't really like it, he did enjoy seeing a side of Kurama that wasn't death, destruction, and violence.

But before she could confront Naruto about her feelings, he had left earler that morning, leaving a note to whoever would be at his door, promising them that he would come back within a week. He didn't.

Sakura teared up at the return to the memory, and even sobbed silently for a moment before controlling herself. She wasn't going to let that happen to Naruto this time around, and she was going to make sure of it. He wasn't going to break that promise of coming back, as he had never broken a promise before that.

Seeing the love of his life tearing up, Naruto looked at her with curiosity and glanced over at Kakashi, wondering if he knew where they were. "Sakura?" He whispered, getting her attention. "Are you alright? You look like you're going to cry." He told her, earning a shake of the head as a response from the rosette.

"No, I'm fine Naruto-k…" She stopped herself before she could complete the suffix, knowing that calling him that so soon would change things up too much for her liking. She hoped that he didn't hear her almost using the suffix, and she was right since he didn't say or do anything to tell her that he had in fact heard her. She smiled slightly though, and looked back at their sensei. "Thanks for asking though." She told him.

"I have a plan, and you need to follow it exactly, okay?" She spoke once more, making sure that Naruto was still focused on the task at hand. The boy nodded at her and gave her a serious look. Even for as long as she had known him, it still seemed odd to see him with a serious face on. "Now, this is that we're going to do…"

While the two of them discussed the plan, Sasuke was becoming impatient with Kakashi and was preparing to just go out there and show him _that "an elite Uchiha like me doesn't need a stupid test."_

* * *

Quickly, Sasuke sprinted around behind Kakashi, believing that the Jonin wouldn't be able to dodge the attack because he was reading the orange book. He couldn't believe that Naruto hadn't attacked Kakashi in the first minute of the test, and was more surprised to see what he hadn't done anything for the half our that they've been out there. He didn't need them, though, and believed that he could do the entire test by himself. He was planning on taking both bells and letting Sakura and Naruto fight over the last one, but little did he knew that it wasn't going to turn out that way.

With the Uchiha now behind Kakashi, he joined his hands together and made several different hand signs, a smirk appearing on his face just before he called out the justu he was about to use.

**"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"**

Kakashi didn't even bother moving as he made several handsigns of his own, obviously not seen by Sasuke due to the giant ball of fire blocking his view of Kakashi. In little time, the fire engulfed the spot where Kakashi stood. The young Uchiha smirked as he knew that the impressive attack would be too much to handle for a lazy jonin like Kakashi.

But much to his surprise, when the fire died down, there were no traces of Kakashi anywhere, no ashes, or burned pieces of clothing, nothing.

Sasuke's eyes widened at this and looked frantically around, wondering where he could have gone. _"Where could he have gone!?"_ Sasuke thought to himself, looking frantically around since he had just now given out his position. The Uchiha quickly rushed out to the field in a hurry to find out where he had gone, still looking around everywhere to fine their sensei, while Naruto and Sakura were watching from the distance.

Little did he know, Kakashi was waiting for Sasuke to come out of his hiding place, just so that he could trap him. As his foot moved forward and touched the ground, Sasuke suddenly felt something on his leg. As he looked down, he could see a single hand that belonged to their sensei. Before he could think any further, Sasuke was pulled down into the ground and Kakashi appeared before him with an eye smile. "You shouldn't have moved from your hiding space, Sasuke. You probably should have moved quickly to find another hiding place." He told him with a happy tone, much to the contrast of Sasuke's scowl of disbelief.

* * *

Naruto and Sakura have watched all of these events unfold, with Sasuke using an Uchiha technique on Kakashi, and the former literally being put into the ground by the latter. Both of them had to stifle a laugh at the defeat of 'the great Uchuha' as they sat in the tree. All while that was happening, Sakura was thinking up of a plan that would get them the bells.

Once she believed that she had her plan all worked out, she looked over at Naruto who was currently on a nearby branch, looking at Sasuke and Kakashi. He loved seeing the Uchiha being put in his place, and if it weren't for Sakura being right there, he would have laughed as loud as he could to let his rival know that he had seen the events unfold.

"Naruto." Sakura said quietly but just loud enough for the boy to hear her. Naruto turned his head to Look at Sakura questioningly and waited to hear what she said, only uttering "What is it?" to let her know that she had his attention.

"I know how we can get the bells. It's going to be mostly you though since I don't have that much Chakra. You're going to pump out as many _Kage Bushin_ as you can and we'll keep Kakashi guessing which one is the real you. Have them attack him in groups of five, and once one if knocked out, send another one to replace it. He is just going to keep fighting them, and we'll wait here. Because he's a Jonin, this isn't going to wear him out at all, but while he's fighting, I want you to suddenly overwhelm him with _Bushin_ and take that book that he has while he's open." She had a good idea of how to do it all, and only hoped that Naruto was listening and would follow out her directions. While all of this focused mainly on Naruto, Sakura was going to perform a _Henge_ as Naruto and jump in with that overwhelming swarm of clones that she had mentioned earlier. He wouldn't know that one of them was actually her, or at least she hoped that he didn't.

Naruto nodded and did the correct handsigns for the _Kage Bushin_ and brought several to existence. Having them poof into existence was sure to make noise, and Sakura didn't think of that. Now there was the possibility of Kakashi knowing where they were, and that was bad.

Since all of them shared the mind of Naruto, they all knew the plan, and silently got into groups of five or more, rushing out into the clearing and circling around the silver haired Jonin. Kakashi's lazy gaze focused on them, and although he didn't outwardly express anything, he was curious as to what Naruto was planning. It couldn't have been Naruto, since he would have just ordered the clones to rush in and attack Kakashi. This was different. They were all in a holding position, and were all ready to fight, but none of them attacked. Suddenly, a kunai whizzed past Kakashi from the trees in the opposite direction of Naruto and Sakura, the Kunai digging itself into the tree that the two were standing on. Naruto knew that it was a clone, since he knew how he threw his own kunai, and it wasn't as fast as it could be.

As soon as the Kunai flew past the group of Naruto clones, they all rushed at Kakashi with Kunai in their hands. With little effort, Kakashi was able to put them all out one by one, but as soon as one was poofed out of existence, another one rushed out from the trees and replaced the now gone clone.

It went like this for another half hour, with Naruto continually popping out _Bushin_ like he was made for doing just that, and when Sakura gave him the signal, he created a much larger group and before, probably about fifty clones in all. All of them waited under the trees, waiting for Sakura to transform and join them so that they could get the bells.

Sakura preformed the _Henge _technique and transformed into Naruto, who smirked at Sakura and glanced at Kakashi. Suddenly, Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him onto the ground with her, thinking that it would truly be a surprise to have both the real Naruto and Sakura be in the next group of clones. Both of them nodded to each other, and all fifty-two Naruto's came rushing out from the trees all at once.

With the five that were already starting to cause Kakashi trouble, fifty-two more of them wasn't going to end well for him. Even with the chakra of the kyubi, he still didn't know which one was the real Naruto. He wasn't a sensor, and couldn't feel Naruto's chakra.

He didn't have time to elaborate on it any further, as the clones all attack Kakashi at once; not leaving any breathing room for the Jonin.

All of the Naruto's had kunai in their hands, all trying to stab at Kakashi. Little did he know, two versions of Naruto weren't using any weapons at all, and were instead waiting for their opening.

Due to the sheer amount of clones that he was facing, Kakashi was forced to put away his book so that he could fight with both hands. Sakura was expecting this, and decided to make her move now.

Sakura rushed through the crowd of clones and got closer to Kakashi, making sure that he wouldn't see through her _Henge_. Getting close to him, Sakura made multiple attempts to get the book, but all failed because even with the amount of clones he had to face, he was still able to make sure that his prized book was okay.

Finally, though, Sakura made a reach for the book as Kakashi got closer to her, and was able to grab the little orange book from the Jonin. Quickly, she made her way back to the trees, hopefully not getting noticed by Kakashi.

The real Naruto had been trying his best to keep track of Sakura, but had failed because there were about forty clones that looked just like him, and she looked like him as well at the moment. He knew that the clone moving away from the battle was Sakura, though, and swiftly began hitting his own clones, taking in all the information they gained about how Kakashi fights. Once there were only a few clones left, the real Naruto ran back to the trees as well. He wasn't entirely sure why Sakura wanted to go after the book instead of the bells, but she was smarter than he was, so he let her take the lead.

Getting back to the trees, Sakura poofed out of her _Henge_ and waited for Naruto to join her, which he did only seconds later. With the two of them now on the same tree as before, Sakura displayed the book to Naruto and smirked at him, hoping that he had caught onto her plan. Unfortunately, he didn't.

"What do we need the book for?" He asked her, not knowing why they didn't just get the bells when they had the chance.

"Because Naruto, if we were to have even touched the bells, they would have rang and Kakashi-sensei would have known that we almost got them. Books can't make a sound, so we're going to distract him with the book while…. Hold on I have an even better plan!" She raised her voice only slightly, knowing that she could cause Kakashi trouble with this new plan.

"Alright…. Here's what we do…"

* * *

**Tada!**

**Alright, this is only the first half of the bell test, and honestly I think that the second part of the plan will be amazing.**

**Please, if you have any suggestions or comments, rate and review so that I know what to do and what not to do.**

**Also, on an additional note, I'm looking for a beta if anyone'd like to participate in helping me make this series!**

**Until next time!**


	4. The Test and Ramen!

Naruto nodded in excitement as he heard the plan. From the day before, as well as recent events, he knew that Kakshi had some sort of attachment to the book. Sakura's plan was great, and he was sure that it would all work out and they'd get the bells.

Sakura smiled at Naruto and looked down at the book in her hands. Kakashi was still fighting off the clones, so they had a few more seconds before he could even think about the book. Joining his hands together, Naruto made several more clones appear, and all of them went to join in the fight against Kakashi. Naruto then made a different handsign and used the _Henge_ to transform into Sakura. The plan was too good not to fail, and if it did, they still had time to make a new one.

The real Sakura smirked and handed to book to Naruto before transforming into Naruto. The real Naruto nodded to the Real Sakura, and the young woman (who now appeared to be a man) left the trees to join the clones.

Only seconds had passed before most of the clones disappeared, and only three were left, not including Sakura. She had been keeping further away from Kahashi than the other clones did, as she did not want to risk getting hit and breaking the _Henge_. Soon after, 'Sakura' walked out onto the field with the book in 'her' hands. Naruto had been told to read a specific passage near the end of the book, as Sakura somehow knew how far their Jonin instructor had gotten through the book.

'Sakura's sudden appearance had forced Kakashi to look over to the young woman, examining her for a short moment before widening his eyes. There was no doubt about her having his book, with its unmistakable bright orange color, and the title in large font right on the front. He was so focused on her having the book that one of the Naruto clones had actually landed a punch on him, but the clone was brought out of existence a second later by a quick jab. The silver haired Jonin continued to split his focus between 'Sakura' and the clones, but quickly brought down two more clones as he saw 'Sakura' opening the book and flipping pages so that 'she' was near the end of the book. He knew exactly what she was going to do, so he didn't bother with the last clone as he attempted to move over to 'Sakura' to keep her from reading.

Unfortunately for him, the real Sakura had anticipated his movements and began to run after him as soon as he moved away from her, reaching an arm out to grab the bells while all of his focus was on the book.

It seemed like it happened only in an instant, as Kakashi suddenly tackled 'Sakura' and grabbed the book from 'her' hands, using his weight to keep her down, and one hand over her mouth while the other held the book. "Don't spoil it! If you tell me what happens to the two of them, it'll all be ruined!" His cool façade was broken as he talked about the book, as his voice was angry but also worried at the same time.

Only then did he notice that the bells didn't jingle when he ceased moving, forcing him to look at where he had the bells. Much to his surprise, 'Naruto' had both of them in his hands, and was smirking confidently at Kakashi. After hearing a 'poof', Kakshi turned back to 'Sakura' to find out that it was Naruto he was sitting on top of. The Jonin looked back at 'Naruto' and saw him be consumed by a puff of smoke, only for the real Sakura to emerge with both of the bells in her hand.

"Got the bells Kakashi sensei! And I want Naruto have the other one!" She said triumphantly as walked over to her partner and sensei. Kakashi stood up with a surprised look on his face and gave them one of his eye-smiles, happy that they were able to get the bells with a certainly unique plan.

"Good job for the both of you. You worked together with a well thought out plan and got the bells. Unfortunately Sasuke wasn't able assist in the plan, but you both pass." All three og the Genin gasped in surprise at this, and Sasuke shouted furiously.

"WHY DIDN'T I PASS?! I'M FAR BETTER THEN THOSE TWO, AND I'M AN UCHIHA! I DESERVE TO PASS MORE THAN THEY DO!" It was obvious that he wasn't happy with not passing, and glared daggers at Kakashi when he turned to look at the seething boy.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but I don't think that you're ready to be a genin. When nothing was happening, you revealed your position, as well as came out of hiding and fought me rather than finding a new hiding spot. To make it worse, your attitude right now isn't helping doing you any favors at the moment either." He said calmly as he pulled Sasuke out of the ground, keeping his guard up since he was expecting Sasuke to attempt to attack him.

Without much surprise, Sasuke did just that and attempted to make handsigns, but was stopped as Kakashi grabbed both of his hands and spread them apart, keeping Sasuke from making any more handsigns. "I should talk to the Hokage about disabling your chakra, but you're the last Uchiha and we need you. I'll make sure you're sent back to the academy where you can learn more about being a GOOD ninja." Kakashi said coldly as he bashed Sasuke's head with his own, causing the young nin to pass out and fall to the floor as Kakashi let go of his hands.

Sakura looked at her sensei with a look of surprise, and a little bit of fear. She was scared because she had just seriously thrown things out of the timeline that she knew of, and she was only trying to make them pass, not have Sasuke get sent back to the academy. With a little shakiness in her voice, she looked at her sensei. "Kakashi sensei… Without Sasuke, we can't be a three man cell.. does that mean that we'll have to go back as well?"

She had honestly not expected all of this, and her reaction was somewhat genuine. Her sensei chuckled lightly and shook his head, looking at her and the now standing Naruto. "No, you two have passed, and you're now official genin of Konoha. You weren't the only class to graduate this year, and I'm sure that there's a class that didn't have an even amount of passing people. Take the rest of the day off, and I'll inform the hokage about our situation." He said to them, earning a nod from the two conscious people on the field.

Kakashi then grabbed Sasuke and carried him over his shoulders, planning to go to the hospital as well.

"So.." Naruto dragged on; bring Sakura's attention over to him. "Do you wanna…. Hang out..? Since we're all done for the day?" This was about the time where Sakura would either hit him or yell at him for asking to hand out with her or go on a date with her, but much to his surprise, she nodded with a small smile.

"Sure! I don't have anything planned, and we need something to do while Kakashi-sensei finds us a new teammate for us! What do you want to do?" Sakura had truly surprised the boy by agreeing to hang out with him, and even more so because she allowed him to pick what they were going to do. She knew that he would avoid his house for the time being, so instead be offered to go to the one place where he was always welcome.

"Let's go to Ichiraku's! After passing out test, we should celebrate with some ramen!" He practically jumped in happiness as Sakura sighed with a small smile. She should have seen it coming, but thought nothing about it until it was too late. However, she couldn't have taken him anywhere since he was still hated by the village at the moment, so Ichiraku's was really the only option.

* * *

Sakura followed Naruto to the ramen stand with a small smile, happy to be doing something with the future love of her life. She was still a little shocked by everything that had just happened, but she just wanted to spend some time with Naruto at the moment. Sitting down at the stools at the stand, Naruto and Sakura didn't have much time before Teuchi noticed the two of them. "Hey Naruto! Good to see you. I take it something good happened today?"

Naruto nodded, much to the delight of the older man. Said man laughed to himself and smiled wider at his two customers. As he looked at Sakura, he realized that he had not seen her before, and he knew that he would remember her pink hair if she had ever eaten there before. "I assume you're on the same team with Naruto?" Teuchi asked her, receiving a nod from her. The older man smiled again and began to cook ramen. "What'll you two have?" He asked them.

Naruto was quick to respond, as he asked to start off with two bowls of Miso. Sakura simply ordered one bowl of Miso, and the two sat in silence as Teuchi cooked their food for them.

Technically, Naruto could count this as a date between him and Sakura, but didn't want to push his luck any further than he already had, so he simply kept quiet.

Sakura was also quiet, as it had been so long since she had seen him, and she wanted to tell him so many things that she couldn't say during her own time. She would have liked to have gone back to the day that he returned to Konoha with Jiraiya, but she wanted as much time with him as possible, so she went back to the start instead.

While the two sat awkwardly, Ayame walked out to see the two of them, and giggled at them, making them look over to the teenaged woman. "Hi Naruto-kun. Who's this?" In truth, Ayame actually knew about Sakura because of all the times that Naruto had talked about her, but wanted to act like she had no idea who she was just to see how they would react to the question.

Naruto smiled at Ayame and motioned to Sakura. "This is Sakura-chan, Ayame-nee." He said happily, getting the woman to smirk slightly at Naruto.

"So, _this _is Sakura." She said, looking at the rosette. "So, are you two just hanging out, or on a _date_?" She said, getting Naruto to laugh nervously, hoping that Sakura wouldn't get mad because she had suggested that they were on a date. Surprised once again, Sakura simply shook her head and smiled.

"Nope. We're just celebrating because we passed our genin test!" She said happily, getting Teuchi to look at the three of them just as he was finishing their meals.

"Genin test? I thought you took that yesterday?" He asked them, unsure if he heard wrong or something else. Sakura shook her head once more at the aged man and watched as he put their bowls of Ramen down at the counter. While Naruto scarfed down his food, Sakura answered his question.

"This was a different test. The one yesterday was to see who had the possibility of becoming a genin, while this one was meant to see if they actually could serve in the shinobi corps." She told Ayame and Teuchi, who both nodded at her and watched as she ate her food as well. Since it wasn't yet time for lunch, the streets were fairly quiet, and Naruto and Sakura were currently the only people that were eating at the ramen stand.

"But the teme failed the test, so Kakashi-sensei is getting us a new teammate. " Naruto told them with a stuffed mouth, getting Sakura to scowl at him.

"Naruto! Don't talk with your mouth full, it's gross and we can't understand you." She scolded him, getting him to gulp down the ramen in his mouth, as well as not at him with a small frown. "Yes Sakura-chan." He said quietly to her, getting her to frown as well.

Sakura sighed a little as she heard him, knowing that she was being a bit hard on him for simply talking with his mouth full. She needed to be patient with him, and even though she was good with waiting, this was Naruto that she was talking about and she would need to wait a bit longer than she would normally.

"Sorry Naruto, but just don't do that, okay? It isn't polite, and we can understand you better when you aren't eating food." She said to him, getting him to nod at her once more as he finished off his second bowl of Ramen.

Decided to hopefully change topics for the better, Teuchi looked at the two genin curiously and leaned up against the counter. "So, your other teammate wasn't able to pass this new test, but you two were? What happened to make him fail?" He asked the two of them, unsure of what had happened for such a thing to take place.

Naruto sighed lightly as he pushed his two bowls away from him and looked at the man who he almost considered a grandfather. "Well, the point of the test was to work together, and since me and Sakura-chan worked together to get the bells, we had a better chance of passing." He told them, pausing to let the information sink in, as well as to allow Sakura to tell the rest of the story.

"Sasuke was the first to give out his position, and he also ran into the open field to try to get the bells on his own. He was too confident in himself and he allowed himself to be incapacitated. After me and Naruto got the bells, he got mad at all of us and I'm pretty sure that he was about to burn us all with one of his Katon Justu. I still can't believe that it turned out like this…" She said the last part quietly to herself as she knew that she had just thrown so many things out of the balance. Teuchi and Ayame nodded, but looked at Sakura and Naruto in surprise. They had not expected the last Uchiha out of all people to be sent back to the academy, and they also didn't know that said person would act out so badly after failing a test.

Sakura couldn't believe it later. She believed that she had been told that Kakashi picked Sasuke because he wanted to honor a past friend of his, but from how Kakashi acted only a little while ago, the information she had gotten seemed to have betrayed the truth.

She wanted to talk about her thoughts with Naruto, but she was afraid that she'd slip up somewhere along the way and make him suspicious about what was going on with her. Wanting to avoid that situation, Sakura found a suitable topic to replace the one they were just talking about. "So Naruto… Do you think that we could train together when we're not with Kakashi-sensei? I'm not really the best that I could be at the moment, and I want to be on par with you and whoever is teamed up with us."

* * *

**Ta...Da..? This chapter was overall alright for me, but I want to make it clear that Sasuke will not be on a team with Naruto and Sakura for the time being. This may change in the future, but at the same time there's a possibility that he will not be welcomed back to the team with open arms.**

**About the part where I kicked him off and hinted at the upcoming arrival of a new Genin, I'm really not trying to just shoehorn in a character here. I'm giving you all the option to tell me if you'd like for me to find a way to bring a canon character to team seven, or if you'd like for me to bring in an OC.**

**I understand that some of you might not be happy with this, but for what I have planned for this, Sasuke cannot be a part of team seven.**

**That's all for now!**


	5. Dynamic entry!

It had been four days since Sakura and Naruto passed their test and temporarily became a two man team. Kahashi had explained to the Hokage what was going on, and although he wanted to help, there were no available genin at the time that could be placed in a team. Because of the lack of a third team member, the silver-haired jonin was cautious when it came to picking missions.

While they did do a few D-ranked missions each day, Sakura spent most of her time training her body and growing out her chakra coils. She still had time before her coils were done fully developing, so she was trying her best to use as much as she could without risking exhaustion. If she were to become exhausted, it would take time before she would be ready to use chakra again, and she wanted to be on par with Naruto by the time they got their first C turned B-rank mission.

She hoped that they would still get that mission, but it wasn't very likely due to the fact that they only had two genin, and one of them wasn't as good as she could be. Sakura knew that she would probably have to help Naruto persuade the Hokage to let them get a higher ranked mission. She was pretty sure that she still had a month until the wave mission, and she hoped that in that time she would be able to train herself into becoming a better ninja.

Breathing heavily, Sakura struggled to continue standing up as she looked lazily at Naruto, who was standing there, only breathing lightly. She couldn't believe that she had just faced off twenty five Naruto clones in succession, but she wanted to do better than that.

The two genin were currently at the third training field, where they usually trained with each other as well as their sensei. Sakura was trying to keep in her stance, but eventually flopped onto the ground from the lack of energy. She wished that her body wasn't as weak as it was, but that was why she was training. Because of her suddenly fall, Naruto was startled and rushed over to her side, looking over the girl who currently had her face in the grass.

When he was about to touch her, Sakura shook her head and sighed, trying to regain her breath. "I'm fine Naruto." She told him, lazily moving her arm to point at a nearby tree. "Can you move me to that tree? I'm too tired to at the moment." Her voice was muffled slightly because her face was in the ground, but Naruto was able to hear her fine.

He struggled to find a suitable area to grab her and pick her up at, as he still felt like she might hit him or yell at him if he did something wrong. After a moment of silence between the two, Sakura move her head to the side to be able to see the bold haired ninja from her peripheral view. "I'm not going to hurt you Naruto. Just pick me up or drag me." She used a small amount of authority in her voice to move her message along, and after a nod from Naruto, she was able to feel him grabbing her arm and pulling her up.

Naruto slung Sakura's arm over his shoulder and but his arm around her back, making sure that he wouldn't let go of her and allow her to fall. He could see the smile on her face, and he smiled back to her as he moved her down to the previously mentioned tree and set her back against the base of it.

"Thank you." She said to him as she smiled at him a bit wider, weakly patting her ground next to her for him to sit down as well. Slowly, the boy complied and sat next to her, but a bit further of a distance away than what she wanted.

Little was said between the two for a few minutes before Naruto broke the silence. Both of them were wondering where their sensei was at the moment, and Naruto was curious to know what sort of lie he would use to excuse himself this time. "Do you think that we'll find another genin to be in our team? I really want to go and get a higher ranked mission, but I don't think we can do that at the moment." He said to Sakura, getting her to hum in thought as she sat there.

"Kakashi-sensei already said that there aren't any available genin or graduates at the moment, so we'll just have to wait." Naruto sighed, much to Sakura's delight, and looked up at the leaves above him. He wanted to do something while they were waiting around for their sensei, and although he was over the top about sitting next to Sakura and even being right next to her, he just wished that the hour was more eventful.

It was odd to Sakura how quiet Naruto was being, but it didn't take long for her to figure the blonde boy out. Through his eyes, he was walking on eggshells in a completely new territory. This was the second time that Sakura had been completely nice to him, and she hadn't hit him with anger since the day that they were placed on a team. Little did he know, the woman they he was currently being cautious with was perfectly fine with Naruto being himself.

Smiling at the blonde boy, she did her best to scoot a bit closer to him, but due to her lack of energy, she didn't get as far as she wanted. "I'm not going to hurt you Naruto. Since we're on a team and everything, I should be nicer to you."

Naruto nodded at her, and silently thanked her for putting that into terms that he would be able to understand. He wasn't dumb by any means, but he still wasn't a genius, and still needed for some things to be simplified for him. "Thanks, but I guess I should be a bit quieter. If we're out on a really cool and important mission, it wouldn't really be good if I were to shout something and give out where we were."

Sakura nodded back to him in understanding and smiled widely as an idea came to mind. With a small moment of silence, she quickly thought up of a plan and adjusted herself so that she was fully facing Naruto.

She had little doubt about her plan working, and spoke up to the blonde boy whose attention she already had. "Well Naruto, if you want to be less loud, then how about this. I can help you find your inner peace and it's guaranteed to help you answer any questions that you might have about yourself and even some others." Naruto nodded at her suggestion and looked at her curiously, trying his best to refrain from jumping into the air from excitement.

Sakura shook her head and giggled at the boy, seeing his struggling to keep still and calm. "Naruto, you can jump around and be happy if you want. It's not like you to be so calm." Despite what she had said being the truth, it conflicted somewhat about him finding his inner peace. Although with her instructions, peace wasn't going to be the thing that he would find when looking inside himself.

Naruto smiled brightly at Sakura and jumped up into the air, releasing the energy that he somehow still had from their spar, but it made sense since Sakura was weaker, and she was the one to call off the spar for the time being. After getting it out of his system, he continued to smile at Sakura and sat down next to her again, refusing to stop smiling. "Alright Sakura-chan, what do I have to do?" He asked excitedly, but inwardly unsure why he was excited to learn how to be calmer and more tame.

"Just sit like I am, close your eyes, and breathe slowly." Naruto followed her instructions as Sakura gave them out, sitting cross-legged like her, closing his eyes lightly, and breathing slowly. He could already feel himself become calmer, and after a few minutes of silence from both of them, Naruto was able to feel something. The feeling was dull, but it was as if he was being pulled. The slight movements that he made were seen by Sakura, and she smiled at the blonde Jinchūriki.

"Naruto." She spoke quietly and softly. "Do you feel anything? If you do, follow the feeling and let it guide you. It should help you get into your mind." She had to thank Ino for telling her how to look inside herself, and after a few questions, she had learned from the platinum blonde that the Yamanaka techniques weren't actually bloodline related, and only required a strong mind. She could have gone in to help him, but she had actually only successfully done a Yamanaka technique once, and even then she had a problem with getting back to her own body by herself. While Ino had offered to help Sakura with mastering the techniques, the Haruno girl declined and told her that she didn't have any place to learn the techniques, as she wasn't a Yamanaka, and wasn't planning on marrying one. While they had grown to act like sisters after some time, Sakura knew that it wasn't right for her to learn techniques from a clan unless she was a part of it.

Naruto said nothing to Sakura as he followed her advice, allowing the feeling to pull him deeper into his mind. He believed that somewhere inside of him held the answers as to why he was hated and who his parents were, but he didn't know that the source of his problems was inside of him in both literal and figurative senses.

Kakashi eyed the two genin from afar as he watched Naruto meditate. He had a pretty good idea about what he was going to find by leaving his body and traveling into his mind, but he wanted to know whi Sakura was helping him with all of it. He had been curious about her ever since they had passed the test, and how she had been so nice to Naruto since then. She hardly every spoke about Sasuke anymore, and she was taking her training seriously. Something had seriously changed about the girl, and he wanted to know what pushed her to do so. He said and did nothing as he watched from his spot in the trees, wanting to see what would happen next.

Naruto didn't know where he was anymore, but he was sure that he wasn't in the third training field. He could no longer feel the sun on his face, or the light breeze that would rustle his hair. The air was cold and damp, and his entire lower half was covered in water.

Opening his eyes, Naruto looked around to find himself in a dimly lit sewer, with him in the middle of it. The boy stood up quickly, as he didn't want to be soaked in water anymore, and slowly began to walk through the sewer. He was sure that it wasn't the sewers of Konoha, as he had been in them many times, and knew what they looked like from the inside.

_"I've never been here before. Where am I?"_ He asked himself as he moved forward, his eyes scanning the area around him to see anything that he could use to understand where he was. It was obviously old and withered, but the walls still stood, refusing to break even with the hardest of attacks.

With every step, he could feel energy of some sort slowly becoming more prominent. He didn't understand what it was, and continued on through the sewers before finding a large gate blocking his way. It prevented him from moving forward, so he inspected the gate. He expected to find a lock of some sort, but only found a piece of paper with the kanji for 'seal' on it.

The other side of the gate was as black as the void, and not even the ground could be seen on the other side of it. Naruto had assumed that the gate was 'some brain thing' that kept him from going further until he learned some life lesson or something important about himself. He quickly discarded the idea with a smile on his face. If he had payed attention to the sewer instead of the gate, he would have seen that the appearance of the broken walls had gotten slightly better, but only by a small margin.

**"So… By jailor decides to visit me at last… to what do I owe the honor?" **A loud and deep voice echoed throughout the sewers, sarcasm obvious in its voice. Naruto was forced to take a small step back after hearing the voice, and looked curiously through the bars of the gate. He knew that the voice was coming from the gate, but he couldn't see anyone or thing through the darkness.

"Who's there?" He called out, curiosity coating his words as he regained his footing and returned to his spot just in front of the gate. Nothing could be seen or heard from the other side for what seemed like several minutes, but hardly any time had passed at all.

Suddenly, enormous eyes opened up and stared down at the Jinchūriki, causing the boy to step back once again. The eyes narrowed into a glare, and shining white teeth appeared from the void. The being did not look pleased at all, and Naruto was able to see that quickly.

Nothing was said between the two, and silence reigned over them once more.

Naruto could feel the strange energy enveloping him, as well as the cold glare that the seemingly floating eyes cast upon him. He didn't like the silence, and intended to break it.

"Who are you and where are we?!" Naruto shouted at the eyes, who shifted to an amused look as the teeth formed a sinister smile. A deep laughter echoed throughout the sewers.

**"If you have to ask those questions, you're dumber than I believed. I am the reason to all of your problems. The source of the villages hatred towards you. I AM THE GREAT KYUUBI NO YOKO!" **Suddenly, the large and magnificent body of the nine-tailed demon fox appeared from the void, the fox laughing at Naruto as he pieced everything together.

The boy looked down at his blindly bright orange jumpsuit and zipped down the top section, revealing a simple black t-shirt underneath. Naruto shrugged off the sides of the suit and allowed the top to fall before placing his hand at the hem of the black shirt.

The fox looked at the boy with curiosity, but said nothing as silence enveloped the area once again. **_"He might not be _****as ****_dumb as I took him for originally..."_** The fox thought to itself as it watched Naruto slowly pull up his shirt, revealing the large seal on his stomach.

Naruto use his free hand to poke at the seal. He had always wondered what it was. Saruotbi had told him to touch or mess with the design, and never explained to the boy what it was or what it did, leaving him confused about its placement on him.

**"Given your stunted physical and mental growth, I'm actually surprised to see that you picked up on the seal so quickly…"** The fox muttered to itself, but was still loud enough for Naruto to hear. The Uzumaki boy looked at the Kyūbi with curiosity, and poked the seal once again.

"This thing is a seal?" He asked rhetorically, somehow knowing what answer the fox was going to give to him. "I always knew it did something, just not sure what."

At this point, the Kyūbi was inwardly raging, as there seemed to be no fear coming from Naruto anymore. The boy was completely calm, and even smiling at the fox. The great demon growled at the boy, and gave him another cold glare.

**"Why aren't you scared!? Or even mad!? I am the sole reason for all of your troubles and you aren't showing ONE SINGLE OUNCE OF FEAR!"**

Naruto waved at the fox dismissively and continued to poke at the seal on his stomach. "Yeah, yeah. Hold on a second here. So… this seal here…" He said poking at the seal once again before pointing up at the piece of paper that was on the gates. "Goes with that paper that says seal? Does that mean we're like inside me or something?"

The Kyūbi was actually surprised by his deduction, and nodded at Naruto slowly. The fox should have seen it coming, as he was the child of its previous jailor, and the Uzumaki were known to be geniuses when it came to fuinjutsu.

As if something had clicked in his mind, Naruto took a small step back and glared at the fox, letting his black shirt go as he pointed at the Kyūbi. "YOU! You're the Kyūbi that the Yondaime killed! Why are you here in me!?"

The Kyūbi chuckled at the boy and smirked, lowering its head to the ground. **"Since you're standing right in front of me, it obviously means that I wasn't killed by your leader. I'm far too powerful to be killed. Even if I were to die, I would come back eventually. Being sealed in the pathetic mind is much worse than temporary death." **The fox sighed as it looked around, and caused Naruto to become even more furious at it.

He paused in his thoughts and thought about everything. When he too the time to think it all out, it made so much sense why he was hated.

The Kyūbi was actually thinking hard about the boy, and how fast he seemed to piece it together. He wasn't as simple and dumb as everyone took him for, but he still did have his blank moments. **_"I can't let him start asking questions. He can't know about his father or mother yet."_** As if some godly force was answering the Fox, a new presence suddenly appeared outside of Naruto's body.

**"Your sensei has arrived, kit. We'll talk later, just get out for now."** The fox commanded and Naruto complied, but after a moment of silence, Naruto looked up at the fox and shrugged.

"I don't know how to get out of here…" He admitted sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. He could hear the Kyūbi sigh deeply, but that was all he remembered before waking up in the training ground, with Sakura sitting in front of him, and Kakashi standing nearby.

Kakashi had just arrived after several minutes of watching Naruto and Sakura. Nothing had been said between the two since the Jonin arrived, but it was obvious that Kakashi was curious about Naruto's current state.

Sakura wanted to watch Naruto closely, but knew that he wouldn't do or say anything until he left his mindscape. She could only wonder what went on with his conversation with the Kyūbi, as she had no way of going into his mind without him asking too many questions. She instead volunteered to look out for their sensei, which arrived only a few minutes after Naruto traveled to his mindscape.

Both the genin and the jonin watched over Naruto as he slowly opened his eyes, and Sakura could see the mixed emotions in them. His mouth had opened to speak, but no words came out.

Naruto opened his eyes with caution, wondering if he was still in his mind or not. He could feel the gentle breeze of the wind, and knew immediately that he was back in the physical world. He wanted to tell Sakura about what he had seen, but stopped as fear quickly took over his mind.

_"I can't tell Sakura-chan about the Kyūbi… She'd think that I'm the fox instead of me, and she'll call be a demon too…" _A look of sorrow appeared on his face as he thought about Sakura mistreating him again and calling him a demon like the rest of the people. It seemed that only older nin knew about the sealing, and none of the genin had a clue about the fox still existing.

Sakura worried about Naruto. The look on his face told her all that she wanted to know, and she put a hand on his shoulder as she leaned towards him. "Naruto, are you okay? Kakashi-sensei arrived a few minutes ago and wanted to talk to us about out teammate situation." Her concern for him was obvious in her voice as she spoke to him, but smiled lightly and Naruto smiled at her and nodded his head.

"Yep! I'm perfectly fine! Found out some cool things about myself, but I'll tell you later." He had put his mask on like he always did, and he believed that he had made the right decision of not telling her. Hopefully she would understand everything when he would decide to tell her. The boy turned to his silver-haired sensei and smiled at him. He wasn't all that mad about Kakashi being late, as he did learn the truth about the Kyūbi, but he wished that he would have known that all his life. Before he could say anything to the jonin, a voice that wasn't his own rung in his head.

**"In the trees to the left, there's another person here. They're waiting for something, but I can't tell what. He also isn't using any chakra that I can detect, but his power is like a burning flame."**

The voice was the same one that he had heard coming from the fox while he was in his mindscape, so he assumed that this voice was the fox as well. After that thought, he would almost feel the fox smirking in his head.

**"You really ****_are _****smarter than I believed at first. Don't speak, just think. We don't want anyone thinking you're crazy or talking to me. Just talk to your sensei."**

Naruto only nodded slightly as he listened to the fox, and said what he was going to say before the Kyūbi had interrupted him. "So Kakashi-sensei, do we have a new teammate yet? Are we gonna go on a mission to protect the Daimyo or go off and do something cool!?" He was getting all worked up from just thinking about standing on top of a pile of fallen nin, with him being the only surviving one while he had a smirk on his face.

With a small laugh, Kakashi shook his head and looked at his student, happy to see that he was wanting to go on a bigger mission than a simple D-rank. In truth, he believed that Sakura and Naruto worked efficiently as a team of two, but the Hokage had told him that he didn't want Naruto or Sakura on a mission higher than a C-rank if it was just the two of them. They were still kids, and although he was a jonin who could easily handle himself in a C-rank mission, the missions that they took were for the two of them, and not for Kakashi.

"We do have a new teammate, but he's only temporary, as he has his own team to be with. When we take higher ranking missions in the future like C or maybe even B-ranks, he'll come along with us. I don't see how, but his Sensei told me that working with us will be a punishment for whatever mundane thing they did this time… I really don't understand it." While Kakashi had started with an eye-smile, he ended with a light sigh as he attempted to understand how his so-called 'eternal rival' considered working with another team to be a form of punishment. Maybe it was more to it than that, but Kakashi hadn't been told anything more from Gai before he ran off.

As soon as the new teammate was mentioned, a kunai whizzed through the air and dug itself into a nearby tree. Curious about it, Naruto slowly stood up and walked over to it, wondering where it came from.

"Dynamic… **ENTRY!**"

The shouting voice could be heard as a green blur passed everyone's eyes, and Naruto only had a split second to turn around to see what was going on before a foot was firmly planted into his cheek, causing him to fly into the tree with the kunai in it, while the green blur ascended into the air before coming back down and landing.

Naruto was luck to not hit the Kunai that was in the tree, as he was right below the sharp piece of metal. Naruto slid to the ground with a groan, and Sakura quickly came to his aid.  
"NARUTO! Are you alright!?" She asked hurriedly as she rushed to his side, examining his face to see the bruise from the powerful kick.

Rage quickly consumed her as she looked over to the boy that was once the green blur. He looked at Naruto with a calm but sad expression as he stood still, and tilted his head downward. "I am sorry about that Naruto-kun, but I wanted to test your abilities with a sudden surprise attack." He bowed deeply and got onto his knees as soon as he rose from his bowing position. "YOU MAY CHOOSE WHATEVER PUNISHMENT YOU SEE FIT FOR ME DOING SUCH AN UNYOUTHFUL ACTION NARUTO-KUN!"

This reaction from the spandex wearing boy caused Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi to look at him with a deadpan expression on their faces, as well as a sweatdrop from Naruto.

_"Lee is our temporary teammate? Oh Kami… Well at least Naruto can train with someone who could actually give him a run for his money, while I can still train with Naruto to boost my own skills." _Sakura thought to herself as he sat there, no longer really mad at Lee for doing what he did. He had explained what he was doing, and also allowed Naruto to choose a punishment for him for doing something that he knew was wrong. _"If I didn't know any better, my first impression of Lee would be that he's a masochist for letting Naruto punish him, but I know that he's only doing this to better himself."_

What shocked Kakashi and Sakura was that Naruto smiled at the boy and lightly laughed as he slowly rose from the ground, causing Sakura to move slightly back to not appear clingy. During this, Lee stood back up and looked at Naruto, wondering what his punishment for such unyouthful actions might be.

"It's alright. I… I had a feeling that you were around here somewhere. I should have expected something since you were hiding and everything." Naruto csratched his head and watched as Lee gave him a surprised expression.

"You knew that I was in hiding?" Lee asked; surprise obvious in his voice. Naruto nodded at him with a sheepish grin, causing him to get back in his knees. "YOU ARE TRULY YOUTHFUL TO ACT WITH SUCH KINDNESS! Whatever my punishment will be, I will multiply it by twenty!" The boy shouted as he got back on his feet once more and raised a hand in the air.

_"I thought that he couldn't create genjutsu…" _Both Sakura and Kakashi thought at the same time as they watched the young man with the bowl haircut stand there, with a sunset behind him and splashing waves from behind a small jagged wall of rocks.

**Tada…. **

**In all honesty, I wasn't too happy with how Naruto was acting in the beginning of this chapter. I do have a bit of a difficult time getting his emotions in particular to seem like they do in series, but still shake things up just enough for him to seem different and unpredictable.**

**For the next few chapters, Lee will be a temporary member of the team, as I do plan to have a certain Kekki Genkai user join the team in the near future. I will not outright reveal who it is, but the character will be genderbent because I simply cannot see him being a boy while looking like that. With that information, cast your votes as to who you think will be the new permanent member of team seven. (I personally think that it should be somewhat obvious, but that's just me.)**

**I have my reasons for doing what I did, as in making Lee a pseudo-member of team seven, and I will tell you this. It makes for a good dynamic, and the dynamic will be somewhat reversed when the new member of team seven strolls along.**

**This is a NaruSaku story, and as much as I love Hinata, she isn't going to be getting closer to Naruto in this fic. She'll be even more upset when she find out about the third teammate. I don't like seeing her all sad because she didn't get to make a move on blondie, but it will happen.**

**As always, I'm looking for a beta for this, and any offers will be appreciated.**

**Until next time!**


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